This is the original Gouache painting by Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone.

This painting depicting Orpheus playing his lyre in order to pass safely past Cerberus by twins Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone, was originally published in Finding Out magazine and later in the classic book by Roger Lancelyn 'Tales of the Greeks and Trojans'.

The twins worked on their paintings together, passing the illustration boards between them until they were both satisfied. This makes for not only great paintings, but also stylistically unique pieces.

The textured painterly background adds a certain depth and contrasts with the three faces of Cerberus which were painted by Janet who specialised in animals, whereas Orpheus and his toga would have been painted by Anne Graham, who had a flair for and specialised in period costume.

The board has been cut to this shape by the publisher in order to set type to the surrounding page. The original registration marks drawn onto the board as 'X's' are also visible, adding to the history of the piece. zFairy zChildren's zBook zAdventure